For some mystery shoppers, mystery shopping is about contributing to the improvement of the customer service world with observations and feedback of their retail, banking and dining experiences.

For other shoppers, it’s about being able to use their talent with the written word to describe the details of those experiences.

Observation and writing – that is what we primarily discuss when we talk about mystery shopping.

However, there are a select group of shoppers who enjoy their work in the mystery shopping industry because of the ability to “perform” when on a shop. Some of these are truly aspiring actors; others like to have a platform on which to perform because it’s what they do, wherever they are.

The mystery shoppers who can naturally and comfortably go through a scenario that is not within their comfort zone or typical way of life are priceless to mystery shopping companies. They are the Oscar And Emmy winners of our industry.

Recently, on one of the mystery shopping boards, we noted a person saying they make the salespeople “work for their score.” This person purposely acts as a disgruntled shopper because she believes it is the job of the salesperson to “raise the customer’s spirits.”

I don’t know about you, but I believe anyone working with the public deserves a medal. These folks have to deal with all personality types all day long.

But as a mystery shopper – unless it’s a specific scenario you are asked to act out – it is NOT your job to test the salesperson or wait staff of places you are mystery shopping.

At Market Viewpoint, we believe the following quote, also from a shopper on a mystery shopping board, is the correct approach to take when conducting your mystery shops:

We are there to present “real” situations that might arise in the course of an ordinary customer shopping at the location so we can show the client how the situations are handled. We are not there to devise additional tests, make it hard for the employee, or to lead the employee to do what he or she is supposed to do. We are only there to present the situation and report objectively.